Trigger Warning: Suicide and some personal experience.



I was probably living under the rock, but I haven’t heard about this book up until it popped on my Netflix. Almost at the same time, I got a chance to get this book to review and I though why not.

I didn’t realised how many memories this book will bring back to me and I believe this book can change your life and how your actions can affect other people. This is kind of book that shows you how fragile humans can be.



One day Clay received a package in the mall with 13 audiotapes in the shoe box. Audiotapes are narrated by Hannah Baker. The girl who committed suicide. Clay received this package because he is one of the thirteen reasons why she did what she did. While listening to tapes, Clay is wondering through town visiting monumental spots from Hannah’s life.

This book was clever and I really enjoyed it.



-End of review-



I was breezing this books quickly observing everything that happened to Hannah. As I mentioned before, it brought back so many memories back from when I was a teenager. Back then, I was just out of emotionally abusive relationship, needed to deal with bullying at school and deal with everything that happens in every teenagers life. I was depressed and did not care for life anymore.

Not many of you know this, but I did try to end my life. I was in very very dark place and just like Hannah, decided I had enough. Enough of bullying, enough of fake smiles, pretending to care. So what did I decided to do? End it. Thankfully not successfully.

And you know what? Life changed. After finishing school I started to see light in the end of tunnel and when I finally decided to leave my motherland with all these troubling memories and start new life. I never looked back.



Since then I thought a lot about this period of my life and what helped me to see the light. So why should you live?



It’s hard to believe, but it will change. You will have better days and not so great days. Just life rollercoaster, but it’s so worth it.
Find the way to express yourself and your feelings. I wrote poems (I know, right?). It’s easier when you can express your feelings and thoughts through some sort of art form.
Look after yourself. Take a long bath, have a walk, read and listen to music.
There are people who care about you. Even if you think they don’t (crazy I know)
The people who bullied/abused/hurt you are complete failures and (in my experience) do not accomplish a lot in their lives.
Making list helps. Make lists of positive things you would like to achieve in your life and work towards it.


Live your life. Full of colours and light. Don’t give up.

A great read that delves into the difficult subject of teen suicide. The non-linear narrative is original and keeps you hooked. Understanding the effect that small remarks and little events can have on a person is an interesting subject to tackle and will make you think about how you treat people around you and how your words and actions can have all sorts of repercussions. Let's all be kinder to each other,

Clay Jensen finds a package containing 7 cassettes on his doorstep with instructions to listen to them and then send them on to the next person on the list. The cassettes are from Hannah Baker, his classmate, work colleague and fantasy girlfriend who had committed suicide a few weeks earlier. Hannah had recorded these tapes as an explanation for her suicide and names the people she felt either pushed her to that decision or could have helped her overcome her suicidal thoughts.
The thirteen reasons, according to Hannah, taken independently may seem trivial, but it is the accumulation of them all which Hannah could not cope with.
This is a dark read but one which should make the reader reflect on their own actions. One never knows if a small act of kindness or a mean action is all it takes to change a life.

brilliant book i was gripped from start to finish although it was a very sad story 😞 it has a very strong message and would absolutely recommend.

So obviously i had heard a lot about this book due to the tv show being made from it, but me myself i like to read the book then watch the show/movie. This book is truly thought provoking and makes you linger on all the details Hannah gives us, no matter what they may be. It is an emotional story and at times my heart ached but i also was glad i was reading a book which though it does have tough subject matter it makes you think long and hard bout people and what goes on under the surface. This sort of book as not around when i was a teen/young adult and after reading it i wish it was to make you realize that in thoughts, feelings, and events you are not alone. This book could be very difficult for some people to read, and for that the book like all stories is not for everyone. But i must say i was gripped by the story, and i have since watched the tv show,and i can say they did a great job of adapting a very detailed and complex story

review up on goodreads under username kimothy

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is a young adult book which deals with a disturbing case of teenage suicide. This book has recently celebrated its 10th anniversary and has been made into a series by Netflix.

Teenager Clay Jensen returns home to find a mystery package on his doorstep. It contains old style cassette tapes from a girl at school, rumoured to have committed suicide. Intrigued, Clay begins to listen, then he is reminded of a map of the town which mysteriously arrived in his school locker.

Hannah’s reasons for creating the tapes have Clay criss-crossing town as we hear about the decisions others made which, she felt, which left her alone, hurt and eventually suicidal.
The author chose to write the book using dual narration: Hannah’s voice on the tapes and Clay’s immediate response to points and situations. It makes the story incredibly intense and puts the reader right in with the middle of the story. Thirteen reasons; thirteen stories of how and why Hannah ended up where, she believed, she only had one choice left. Those mentioned on the tapes never realising the connections they made and the impact they had on one girl.

Using everyday situations that many teens find themselves in, the suicide element has already shown itself to be a controversial discussion topic among many other readers. Was the book intended to highlight suicide? I don’t think so; it is more about the impact anyone’s thoughts and actions can have on another human being. Would it be a suitable book for anyone with suicidal tendencies? I don't think so, not particularly; there are no answers or suggestions for help. Instead, it could make us think about how simple, often thoughtless, words, and action or non-action, can have such an effect on another's life, and highlight that we don't exist in a bubble.

I liked this book and read it over the course of twenty four hours. It was refreshing, harsh at times, intense and even surreal. The unusual writing style worked well and I can see this work being a popular discussion topic, for the teenage groups in years to come. Maybe a classic in the making? I shall leave you with a quote from the book:

“No one knows for certain how much impact they have on the lives of other people.”

Actual rating 4.5 stars.

So I somehow managed to begin this book without being spoiled by any of the hype surrounding it and the TV adaptation, and had only the vaguest idea of the story-line. For that reason I am not going to begin this review with a synopsis as I believe it greatly enhanced my reading of this not to know any particulars concerning the plot. If you are only the lucky unspoiled people, yet to read this book, I'd suggest you try and do the same. What I will divulge is that this book seems to have had such a great emotional impact on the unaware, like myself, that I believe explains the early hype and rave reviews and some of the later disappointed ones.

The premise for this book is heartbreaking enough, but when combined with the method of narrative I found it made for almost unbearably sad reading, in some parts. Knowing the ultimate ending at the beginning of the book I thought was a ballsy move by the author, as it could have ruined some of the tension for the reader. As it is, I felt it added to the emotional impact of the novel and made every one of the protagonists' situations and feelings that much more intense.

I really appreciated that the tragic subject matter was broached in such a sensitive yet illuminating way. It really highlighted a situation that is real-life for many individuals and, I believe, is what made this book have such wide-spread acclaim.

Where do I start. I had heard a lot about this book and the tv series before I read it so was very sceptical about it glorifying suicide. How wrong was I. What an eye opener and I think handled carefully with the right theory behind it this book should be used on the A level curriculum in schools. The book took me through a mixture of emotions actually willing it to be wrong and for someone to say NO!!!!

I imagine this will be a book that polarises opinion and, for the most part, people will either love or hate it. That said, I have very mixed feelings about it. On the one hand I fear that it can be seen as glamourising suicide and on the other it gives a unique view into how our actions and what we say to or about another person and, just as importantly don’t say to them, affects them in ways we may never know.

The concept of the thirteen tape recordings was novel and I found the book compelling, but I didn’t enjoy it. Try as I might, I could not like, care about or empathise with Hannah. She takes no responsibility for herself and blames everybody else for what happens to her. Ultimately her suicide seems more about getting back at other people than feeling she is unable to go on living.

I began reading this book expecting it to be a very emotional read, but despite the subject matter it didn’t move me much at all. However, I do feel that suicide is a taboo that needs talking about and doing this through fiction has to be a good start.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ok cards on the table I did not especially like this book. That doesn't mean that it isn't a good book, it just means that I did not engage with the style and manner in which it was written. And I really didn't - it was both facile and undeveloped and I found the frequent passages of Hannah's voice in itallics really grating. Clay Jenson - in the book at least - fulfills a similar role to Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby, whereby you have an MC who is actually a mask or even a barrier to the real MC. That technique has always been hit and miss for me as it presents you with a protagonist with little to no agency. It does set up an unreliable narrator pretty effectively however, but it really isn't my preferred method.

Hannah is dead at the beginning of the book. Not dead as in American Beauty and not dead but really alive and will be back. Dead as in dead because she killed herself. Let me take a moment here to say that this book does not glorify suicide. Instead it looks very clearly at the train wreck that suicide leaves behind. It is a horrible situation - I have experienced the suicide of a friend and even understanding how difficult and full of despair he found life, it was still terrible; I understood that it was no reflection on his friends and family, he was just in too much emotional pain to go on - so I do get that suicide is sometimes the only answer that some people feel they have left. Having said that, Hannah, while she has reasons for what she's done, seems to have killed herself out of spite. As if that isn't enough, she's left a box of tapes and a blackmail situation so that everyone she deems guilty of driving her to her death really gets their nose rubbed in it. Presumably if she was on the point of killing herself, she was probably not doing her best most reasonable thinking. But it still comes across as if she is a spiteful, bitter, nasty girl who wanted to punish people when she made the worst possible choice in reaction to everything that had gone wrong for her.

Side step here, I saw the netflix series and as frustrating as I found that, Clay and Hannah are far more sympathetic characters in that then they are in the book.

So looking at this as a book that addresses suicide and I am not especially impressed. BUT, this isn't really a book about the aftermath of suicide at all. This is a book about rape culture and if you read it from that perspective it becomes a completely different ball game. It's really easy to say that Hannah should have made better choices, that she should have been superior to her circumstances, that when it seemed that no one else cared about her she should have cared about herself. The reality isn't that simple. Young people are not taught to value themselves outside the enforced social constructs in which they exist. Everything feels life and death when you're 16 yrs old. Girls especially are taught both openly and covertly to value themselves based on their appearance, on how popular they are or how much boys like them. Conversely if boys like them too much then their value also decreases. It is time a strong and unforgiving light is shone on these useless social bylaws. When Hannah's friend goes into denial about whether or not she was raped, it makes sense because she has been taught to believe it is her fault. If you're a girl who has too much of a good time and something happens to you well you were asking for it weren't you? Whether people openly think this or whether it's more sub conscious, the underlying belief is rampant. Hannah's actions there are despicable but they're also understandable. She becomes part of the conspiracy of silence that surrounds so many cases of rape because we are not allowed to be clear about what rape is. Assisted rape is still part of legal vocabulary for gods' sake! This insidious and toxic idea that we as females are complicit in our own sexual assault needs addressing. So the book got that spot on.

Most tellingly, my own knee jerk reaction to Hannah talking about the infamous list and how it made her a target, followed by unwanted fondling etc really made me think. On one level my first reaction - MY OWN FIRST REACTION - was yeah that's not on but it's human nature. I teach women's self defense classes and one of the first things I teach them is to be LOUD. If they don't want to be touched, I teach them to get over the early instilled taboo about girls not making a scene and shout about it. To turn on the person copping a feel and confront them. Not to submit to it in humiliated silence. So if even I have this half sub conscious 'it's just human nature, no one meant any harm' reaction, when I have been far more physical in getting rid of unwanted touching, then there is something seriously wrong. Can we stop objectifying each other? I don't know. But we can damn well teach young people that their bodies are theirs and only to be touched with their permission or else there will be unpleasant immediate and probably painful consequences for the perpetrator. Ultimately this boys will be boys attitude with a side of but it's just a game is damaging to both sexes. You're not teaching the grabber where boundaries are and you're teaching the grabbee that she has no power over her own body. This is on first glance a small thing that really needs to change because the consequences are far more damaging and far reaching.

So in conclusion, nope don't like the book but it dos carry an important message. I'd like to see more books pick up ad carry the anti rape culture method and do it in a less slip shod way.

I read this novel some time ago, but re-read with young people's mental health concerns in my mind. It acknowledges it is dated by using tape cassettes, but this enabled the story to progress n the way it did. The reader can see how lots of 'little' incidents built up in Hannah's mind to drive her to despair. To others, and on their own - trivial, but taken together, a burden that could not be lived through. Typical really of many lives of young people today. Thoughtless remarks and actions said and done to gain street cred among peers, but extremely hurtful to others.. This is a useful title for YA and the adults in their lives

I've heard about this book for a good few years as it was originally published in 2009, but never got round to reading it. When it popped up on Netflix as a series this year and then NetGalley were offering copies, I decided to give it a go - see what the hype was about.

So, the premise is this. A girl commits suicide and leaves behind a suicide 'tape.' In this tape it explains the thirteen reasons why she was led to that moment and made that choice.

I'll be upfront straight away, and say I did not like this book. The writing was nothing spectacular and I never really got a feel for the main character, Clay Jensen, let alone anyone else. Well, I suppose the central character was really Hannah, the girl who died. Because a lot of it is through her words.

There are thirteen reasons she killed herself, and each is connected to an individual person. In these tapes, she details the incidents that involved her and them and why that led her to this awful position. Each individual in turn has a tape where she speaks directly to them and tells them why they left her feeling in a certain way. When each person has listened to all the tapes, they pass it onto the next person. So that everyone knows her story, and everyone is sledge-hammered with guilt.

So, I didn't like it. In fact, I'll go further than that - I objected to it. Nothing really to do with the writing or characterisation, but the sheer premise of the book. This book is telling young adults (and adults) that people commit suicide because of other people. Now, sometimes this may be true. But usually it isn't. And all these individual events did not add up to someone suicidal to me. She was mentally ill, or entirely manipulative, because suicide does not work like that. Believe me. Maybe these events were the proverbial straw that broke the camels' back, but they weren't why it happened. And she dumped all this guilt, guilt that would hound them for the rest of their lives, onto these poor peers of hers, who did not deserve it. Sure, they made some mistakes. Some of them didn't even make mistakes. But, whatever. That is not how life works.

Or maybe it is? Maybe the idea is that she kidded herself into thinking that those were the reasons she chose to die. I'm finding it really difficult to separate what I felt about the book as a story, and the book as a novel i.e. a form of entertainment, and I apologise for that. But I couldn't enjoy a book that was so... wrong as this.

Suicide. This novel has been praised for 'breaking the taboo.' Well, if this is the 'taboo' that's been broken, it should have been left intact. People may go away and count up the hurts and perceived wrongs that have been dealt against them and think of them as their 'reasons why,' even if they have no suicidal ideation. This breaks no taboos, it lies.

I don't usually speak so strongly about book content, but I can't help myself here. This book has got inside the minds of mentally ill or confused young people SO BADLY that it could be dangerous. It is simply not true. And the thought it's out there on Netflix (and I think doing fairly well) makes me fairly nauseous.

Killing oneself cannot be trivialised by making a list of thirteen people and their actions towards you that have left you feeling crap. This undermines what real people go through.

Maybe I've read it all wrong, but this was how I took it it. And I could never condone anyone reading it, let alone recommend it. I would pluck the book from people's hands.

Go online. Go on Mind, the mental health website. See what this is really about. If we want to break taboos, that's great. But not like this.

Not like this.

I first read Thirteen Reasons Why in January 2013 and to say I loved it would be an understatement. I thought it was clever and a fantastic story. At the time I was a volunteer grief counselling and was looking for a non-fiction book on suicide but stumbled across this instead.
The recent controversy surrounding the Tv adaption and it’s apparent glamorisation of suicide led me to want to reread it to see if I had missed something the first time around – I didn’t.
First of all, no matter what you think of it the book certainly has got people talking about suicide. A topic which is normally taboo and which teenagers, in particular, would probably find difficult to bring up.
Secondly, the book has some discusses some common signs that can hint that someone is considering killing themselves and it may make them think of the consequence of following through with their plan. Particularly when Hannah pictures how her parents would feel finding her body if she hung herself, it may make a suicidal person consider the effect on their own friends and family if they were to do the same.
It shows that there is always someone there willing to listen and be there for you, like Clay would have been there for Hannah had she confided in him.
Finally, one of the biggest reasons why I think critics have got it wrong is this. The book has the ability to make people consider that their actions have consequences, that the things they do and say to and about people can matter.
Now that is out of the way I can carry on with actually reviewing Thirteen Reasons Why. The main thing I want to say is that Jay Asher has written one hell of a book.
Throughout the book Jay Asher tells the story from both Hanna’s and Clay’s point of view by doing so she made the reader feel the full impact Hannah’s suicide by helping us to identify the suicidal person and those she left behind.
Thirteen Reasons Why begins with Clay getting ready to mail some tapes to someone but hesitating because he is reluctant to post something that will ruin someone’s day.
He thinks back to the day before when he received the tapes himself. Each time had a number painted on the side running right through to number 13. Clay is curious about the contents of the cassettes and immediately tries to find somewhere to listen to them.
He is shocked to discover the voice on the tapes belongs to a girl named Hannah Baker. A girl who killed herself recently.
“I’m about to tell you the story of my life. More specifically, why my life ended. And if you’re listening to these tapes, you’re one of the reasons why.”
Hannah outlines her two rules for the people listening to her tapes, tells them that someone is watching them and she will know if they don’t do as she says then there will be consequences. Rule number 1 is that they have to listen. Number 2 is that they have to pass on the tapes to the next person on Hannah’s list.
She explains there are thirteen tapes because there are thirteen sides to every story.
Clay is bemused when he hears Hannah saying he is one of the reasons why she killed herself. He barely knew Hannah even though he wanted to. They worked together at the cinema during the summer and they had made out once at a party.
Each person on the list was sent a map of the city marked with little red stars and each star represents a location which is somehow important to the story.
Every person on the list is different from the public image they portray and each person was vital in the decision to kill herself.
Initially Clay finds himself questioning why he is even continuing to listen to the tapes when he knows he isn’t to blame. He knows the answer though.
“I swallow hard. Tears sting out the corner of my eyes. Because it’s Hannah’s voice, I voice I thought I’d never hear again. I can’t throw that away again.”
The tapes start with her talking to someone who started a rumour about her, a rumour which tarnished her reputation and because she was knew to the area it became the only thing people would think of when they thought of her. This rumour snowballed and led to a lot of the other things which occurred to make her want to end her life.
Clay finds it hard to listen to her tapes and to hear her giving up and knowing it was too late to save her.
As the book progresses it is easy to see how little things can gradually build up and lead someone to believe they have nowhere left to turn.
“Like driving along a bumpy road and losing control of the standing wheel, tossing you just a tad off the road. The wheels kick up some dirt, but you’re able to pull it back. Yet no matter how tightly you grip the wheel, no matter how hard you try to drive straight, something keeps jerking you to the side. You have so little control over anything anymore. And at some point, the struggle becomes too much – too tiring – and you consider letting go. Allowing tragedy – or whatever…to happen.”
This book has a very important message:
“You don’t know what went on in the rest of my life. At home. Even at school. You don’t know what goes on in anyone’s life but your own. And when you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re not messing with just that part. Unfortunately, you can’t be that precise and selective. When you mess with one part of the person’s life, you’re messing with their entire life. Everything…affects everything.”
This book is very high up among my favourite books.

Growing up as a teenager can be tough, you don't know what someone else us going throughout and what your actions could cause others to feel, this book highlights this instance fantastic way. Very enjoyable and eye opening book

I made the mistake of reading this book after watching the show on Netflix and I definitely think that influenced my opinion of it but whether you've seen it or not I think this is a book worth reading and I'm glad I did.

It's less shocking and brutal and given the format it lacks the depth and all of the side plots which feature in the show but in many ways it's actually better for it. The focus is completely on Clay and Hannah and it's very in the moment which makes it an intense and engrossing read.

The author has said that the format of the book was inspired by audio guides (where you wander round a gallery or museum and listen to a recording of someone explaining what you're looking at) and that is exactly the feeling you get. Clay receives the tapes in the mail and spends a night listening to them while travelling around town to the places Hannah has indicated on a map. Clay's reactions to the tape and thoughts on what he sees and remembers are interspersed with Hannah's "reasons" and at times it's almost like a dialogue between them as Clay tries to understand why Hannah killed herself and why she holds him responsible.

I absolutely loved Clay as a character. He really goes through every emotion as he spends the night listening to the tapes and I felt so sorry for him. He's such a sweet, nice guy that it's difficult to understand why he would be on the tapes. He seems so innocent, insecure and has the most massive crush on Hannah that his inclusion absolutely devastates him.

He's not the only one who you can't but help question their inclusion in the tapes and it does make you wonder about Hannah. She's definitely not a reliable witness to what happened and often comes across as bitter and angry which makes having sympathy for her quite difficult. There are hints that there is more to the story and certainly something from her history which may be closer to the truth of why she did it but all we (and Clay) have is the tapes. I really liked the questions it raised and I think it will definitely spark some debate which on topics such as suicide, grief and abuse can only be a good thing.

There isn't much in the way of other characters or perspectives so it does leave things a lot more open to question and interpretation which I think is also good. It's one very intense but short period of time and it makes it addictive reading.

Asher's writing is very good and very readable. I think I read the whole thing from cover to cover in a morning and while I didn't get as much emotion as I possibly could have it did really grip me and I loved the unique format of it.

I did know what happened and why Clay was on the tapes from watching the show so there weren't many surprises for me and I did kind of imagine the characters as the actors but there are a few differences so it did hold my interest. Certainly Clay and Hannah felt quite different to me, as did a few of the others named on the tapes. I do wish I'd read the book first so the element of surprise was there but then I probably wouldn't have enjoyed the show as much.

Overall a good read and definitely one I'd recommend whether you've watched the show or not.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for a review. As always all thoughts are my own.

I've heard a lot about the series on Netflix and I wanted to read the book first, it's a quick read and I'd say it's in the style of young adult books.
Looking forward to watching the series.

I enjoyed this book. I didn't know what to expect from it, having heard mixed reviews. Glad I decided to give it a read.

I am afraid I didn't finish this book. I didn't find it very interesting and I didn't care for the characters. I think the subject matter was perhaps not dealt with in the best way.